Draft Lacks Basics of a Constitution: Experts

Constitutional experts on Thursday criticised the draft of the interim constitution submitted to the government and Maoist talks teams a week ago.

"You cannot call it a draft of any constitution from any point of view. It is a cheating and crime against the state," said Bhimarjun Acharya, speaking at the Reporters' Club.

He said that the historic document goes against the basic principles of a constitution right from the preamble.

According to him, Maoists, seven-party alliance and the draft committee should take responsibility for failing to produce a draft that is legally correct and can address the people's expectations.

Advocate Shreedhar Aryal said political parties are to be blamed for making the draft interim constitution incomplete and confusing.

"The problem arose because the parties formed the committee in a hurry but were later unable to provide all necessary materials to the committee," he said. He said the parties failed to state the committee their target.

He also warned that regressive forces would be active if the present state of confusion prevailed for a year.

Advocate Bishwakanta Mainali termed the draft document incomplete, unbaked, confusing and contradictory.

"The document has ignored basic requirements of a constitution," he said.

In response to the criticism, Laxman Aryal, chief of the Interim Constitution Draft Committee, said the committee failed to produce what it intended because of its limitations and parties' differences on many outstanding issues.

"Even at the last hour some members refused to sign in the final document and pressed me to agree on their versions. And once we agreed on one demand, they came up with a series of demands," he said, without elaborating.

"That is why the document contains many brackets, slashes or blanks, which mean that things are yet to be decided," Aryal said.

"It would not have been so incomplete had Maoists and the seven-party alliance come to an understanding on basic points. We found them rigid in their stance and it was very difficult to reach to a consensus," he said.